Ida Ehre acting Hekuba in Euripides' Trojan Women

Source Description

This 1947 photograph shows a grieving woman whose
figure fills out the entire picture. She wears a frock made of burlap, the
preferred substitute cloth for theater costumes during the postwar period, which
also used to be worn by penitents; her hairstyle meanwhile alludes to ancient
times. Her body is tilted sideways, her gaze lowered, yet her extended arms give
this figure a quiet strength and create a dynamic in the image where resignation
and resistance keep a balance.

This enlarged photo in delicate gray shades, a
silver gelatin print measuring 28.7 x 21.5 cm, is signed by its creator,
theater photographer
Rosemarie Clausen,
at the bottom right. The back of the photograph is stamped with her name and
address and a note written by an unknown author that reads: "Euripides'
Trojan Women – Werfel / director Ulrich Erfurt." The
remains of a photo mount that had once been used for the picture and a note
in Clausen's
handwriting that reads: "exhibition images reproduction only by permission"
indicate its original use. Most likely it was part of an exhibition in the
lobby of Hamburg's
KammerspieleKammerspiele = intimate
theatertheater, which is also supported by the photograph's
provenance. The address given on the stamp allows for an approximate dating;
in conjunction with the signature it authenticates this image as a vintage
print, made by the photographer shortly after the exposure of the negative
during a photo rehearsal in September 1947. The
image shows Austrian-German Jewish actress Ida Ehre, who founded
the second Kammerspiele
theater company in 1945, leading it
to become one of the major stages in postwar West Germany.
Despite all the challenges arising with currency reform, she led the theater
for more than four decades until her death.